4. Change

What it all really comes down to is change. What happened with the characters? They changed. What happened to the voice actors? They changed. What happened to everything? It changed.

Ash’s clothes. In episode 25 (Primeape goes bananas) a wild Mankey steels Ash’s hat. But Ash’s hat is no ordinary hat. It’s a super rare awesome chocolaty fudge coated mega super hat, and Ash will do anything to get it back. So why then, may I ask, would Ash just go ahead and change his outfit, including his hat? Surely if he loved that hat so much he would never ever change it, even if his life depended on it.

Every Pokémon fan knows the team rocket motto. You see team rocket cosplay players quoting it at cons, you see fans quoting it as they watch the episodes. It’s a short rhyme that everyone’s gotten to love. That’s why the hearts of fans globally sank when they watched the new episodes for the first time. You watch in anticipation for team rocket to make their cameo in the season. By the time they do your hanging off the edge of your seat. They open their mouths to start their motto. You do the same. It’s at that point you realize it’s changed. All that time spent learning the motto is put to waste now as they now have something much worse instead. Now you have to take the time to learn that, only to be cheated once again as it changed for a second time.

Remember when it just used to 150 or more to see? The good old 151 pokémon. A number small enough that you could name them all off the top of your head. Those days are gone now. Now there are 493 pokémon, and counting. Sure, some of them are cute, others are really strong, but there comes a point where it’s just too many. Who knows where it will end?